Universal Basic Income

BY: MAXIMILIAN WATKINS

What is Universal Basic
Income(UBI)?
 Replacement for Welfare
 An extra addition to Welfare
 So high it makes work optional
Poverty Line UBI

 For United States about $1,000 month

 Unconditional
 Not taxed
Consequences of UBI

 Will people spend it on booze and tobacco?

 A 2013 study by the World Bank says no
 In fact the richer the more you do
 The lazy drunk poor person is a stereotype
Consequences of UBI continued

 Manitoba, Canada 1970’s, 1% of workforce stopped

 Reduced working hours by <10%
 Increased time in school
 Increased time looking for better jobs
 High school graduation up 25%
Problems with current system

 Too many conditions

 Take special courses
 Fill out X amount of job applications
 Take any job offered
Problems continued

 Poverty Trap
 If you make more, you lose benefits
 Low paying jobs worth less than welfare
 This creates a small area to work in
How to pay for UBI

 Redistribution, tax wealthy and corporations

 Cut certain budgets, like defense
 Remove current systems and replace
 Different taxation
Redistribution method

 Simplified version
 15 people, UBI of $2, cost $30
 Top 10 people contribute $3 each
 Every person gets $2, including top 10
 Real contribution of top 10 is $1 each
 Real cost $10
 Solves the billionaire dilemma
 Helps show real cost for UBI
Cutting other budgets

 Current Defense budget $639.1 billion

 Current Welfare budget $449 billion
 Current Medicaid budget $642 billion
 Cutting reduces bureaucracy
 Cutting reduces cost of administration
Taxes

 Tax financial transactions

 Tax capital
 Tax land value
 Carbon tax
 Tax use of robots
True cost of UBI

 Not $3 trillion
 Karl Widerquist calculates $539 billion net
 Less than 3% GDP
 Calculated using income/wealth taxes
 Same with corporate, natural resource, or carbon tax
 Same with budget cuts/reshuffling
Opposition to UBI

 Inflation, money does not just appear

 No one to do “dirty work”
 Too much government control
 Too much political power
 Does not tackle all problems with inequality
Benefits of UBI

 $1,000 should grow GDP additional 12% over 8 years

 Increases demand in marketplace
 $1 Wage earner = $1.21 national economy
 $1 High income = $0.39 national economy
 Help eliminate fear, suffering, and existential panic
Larger UBI

 Middle class life

 Society importance
 Work often determines status
 Lots of time wasted working
Larger UBI continued

 33% workers engaged

 16% actively miserable
 51% only physically present
 People shown not to leave
History of UBI

 Minimum Wage
 1516 Thomas More
 1526 Johannes Ludovicus Vives
History of UBI continued

 Basic Endowment
 1794 Antoine Caritat, Marquis de Concorcet
 1796 Thomas Paine
History of UBI continued

 Basic Income
 1848 Joseph Charlier
 1849 John Stuart Mill
Poor People’s Campaign

 Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.

 Cost $30 Billion in 1967
 Middle class life, not poverty line
 Economic Bill of Rights
Implemented UBI

 Alaska since 1982

 Finnish trials for the last 2 years
 Poland’s 500+ program for 2 years
 Canadian cities Hamilton, Lindsay, and Thunder Bay for 1 year
 North Carolina Cherokee Indians since 1996
 Mozambique after 1990s Civil War
 GiveDirectly near Mombasa
Why Universal Basic Income

 More successful in trials

 Solves most problems with current system
 Does not control people
 Enhances the rights of beneficiaries
 Limits power of providers
 Does not jeopardize environment of people in need
 Does not harm or hinder the pursuit of dignified work
 There is nothing except short-sightedness to prevent us from
guaranteeing an annual minimum – and liveable – income for every
American family. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the
total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.

 Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or

Community? (1968)